


New constellations

by mee4ever



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adoption, Adulthood, Auror Harry Potter, Bottom Draco, Children, Draco adopts a child, Emotional Hurt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, I promise, M/M, Mentioning of - Freeform, POV Draco Malfoy, Podfic, Podfic Available, Podfic Length: 1-1.5 Hours, Redeemed Draco, Redemption, Smut, Top Harry Potter, blaise/draco - Freeform, by the end, he is good though, little bit of, or - Freeform, suppossedly redeemed draco, you know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2015-12-12
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:45:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5410433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mee4ever/pseuds/mee4ever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neptune had come into Draco’s life only a few hours after she’d come into Harry’s. The two of them had been sitting in the Ministry, in the waiting room of Draco’s section when Draco had walked by and stopped to look at them. Harry had been codling the little girl, making funny faces and talked to her in a light baby voice.<br/>“Should I take her for awhile?” Draco had asked. Harry had stared up at him, looking rather possessive of the girl. Like Draco would do her harm. Draco sighed. He'd thought they'd gotten past this, that Harry had actually started to trust that Draco wanted to do good in this world. He was working with Muggle relations, for Christ sake.</p><p>Or the one where Draco adopts an infant girl and Harry kind of does too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New constellations

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a drabble and then it became +10k words. Oops. I just wanted Draco to like stars, have a daughter and be in love with Harry. So, here we are. 
> 
> I've listened to [this](https://open.spotify.com/track/5lRV6r04uaTKaVfkplfduV) song and had it as inspiration throughout the whole piece. 
> 
> You can also find art inspired by this fic [here](http://free-to-be-no-one-but-mee.tumblr.com/tagged/new+constellations)
> 
> Completely unedited podfic can be found [here](https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B2Ld0Z_VEG97VVNpemdIdFhiVVk). 
> 
> I highly appreciate feedback and you are also more than welcome to point out spelling or grammatical errors since English isn't my first language.

Neptune had been only an infant when Draco took her in. She came from a Muggle-family that was killed in an ‘accident’ involving some serious, dark magic. Harry had worked the case alongside his best friend and they'd found the girl several hours later than they should've, she'd been so quiet and nobody had cared to do a check up in Muggle-records, something that Potter had made law to do after that incident. Harry was one of the best Aurors to ever had the job (not Draco’s personal opinion, just the Prophet’s) but he was also very keen on constantly make the laws adapt to the times. Some people thought he should just do his job and not get involved in the politics, but Harry promptly ignored them and passed several bills a year, often regarding Muggle-protections.

Draco and Harry didn't work close at the Ministry. They simply bumped ways at times and a few of their cases melted together. Usually, that meant Harry would just drop of a file with a polite _here you go_ and Draco would answer _thanks_ without really meaning it. Neptune's case had been different and changed up a lot of things.

She'd come into Draco’s life only a few hours after she’d come into Harry’s. The two of them had been sitting in the Ministry, in the waiting room of Draco’s section when Draco had walked by and stopped to look at them. Harry had been codling the little girl, making funny faces and talked to her in a light baby voice.

“Who's the cutest little girl? Yes, you're the cutest!” He'd said and flailed a finger over her face. She'd made some small little noises that possibly had been laughing and Draco had gotten stuck in the door.

“Is she yours, Potter?” He'd asked after a while. Harry had jumped almost a meter up in the air and clutched at the baby. He'd stared Draco down and then shook his head.

“I'm not really sure how that could've happened,” he'd said. He looked down at the girl again and sighed. Draco had wondered what Potter had meant with that, not knowing that Harry wasn't even married to the Weasley girl any longer. Gossip wasn't one of Draco’s biggest hobbies in life, since there were very few people who wanted to even talk to him. He'd gotten used to not being in the loop. Later on he'd gotten to know that Potter and the Weasley girl hadn't been married for a few _years_ and no one knew if Potter had even dated since that.

“No, she's a rescue from a mission,” Harry had continued to explain. His face had began to furrow deep and Draco realised that they were starting to really become adults. They would both turn thirty the next year but Harry looked so damn old already. He also looked exhausted which was why Draco had asked:

“Should I take her for awhile?” Harry had stared up at him, looking rather possessive of the girl. Like Draco would do her harm. Draco sighed. He'd thought they'd gotten past this, that Harry had actually started to trust that Draco wanted to do good in this world. He was working with Muggle relations, for Christ sake. And they'd had that... conversation. Screaming and shouting at the Christmas party almost four years ago when Harry had gotten too drunk and started coming after Draco. Most of their co-workers had stood by if anything would happen but none had defended Draco when Harry accused him of one thing after the other, things that weren't true anymore and things that never had been. Draco had been drunk enough to fight back, shout about how there had never been a choice for him, that there were things he wished he could take back and memories he'd live his whole life trying to forget. He'd gotten so worked up that he'd pulled back his shirt sleeve to reveal the Dark Mark and prop it up into Harry’s face.

“Is this what you wanted me to do? To show the world that it's still there? Huh? To say that I am not really part of you guys but just simply biding my time, pretending to do things so that it will look good? Because fuck you Potter if that's your agenda, that is not the case! It's not going to happen! I have this and there is nothing in this world I hate more, do you hear me? There is nothing I hate more than this bloody ink and what it stands for and you are not allowed to go around spewing that I'm still the person I was when I was seventeen, when the war roared, because I am not and neither are you!” Harry had been quiet for the duration of Draco’s rant but he opened his mouth when Draco quiet down. Ron stepped in, back towards Draco, looking at Potter and he'd only said _Harry_ with a firm hand on the man's arm. Harry had closed his mouth again.

“Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go home,” Draco had said, rushing out.

It hadn't been a very good Christmas holiday. When his father had come back from Azkaban that same year, Draco hadn't met up with him. He hadn't gone to the Manor, he hadn't visited him in any way. Draco had had time to go over his life and his choices and he'd chosen not to let his father back in. There were too much hatred and cowardliness rooted in his pores. This meant that Draco really only had one other relative he could see, his mother. She of course stayed with his father and they wanted to spend Christmas with him. _Just this once, Draco, please, come see him_. Draco had declined. What he’d done for Christmas, was locked himself in and gotten plastered. It hadn't been pretty.

Now that had been years ago and Draco hadn't really interacted much with Potter since. He had thought that Potter at least had understood that Draco was there to stay and that he loved his job and that he condemned every dark magician there was. Maybe he'd thought too high of the other man. He threw a hand up in the air in a “forget it”-gesture but Potter had stopped him by saying _yeah, okay, sure_. He'd let Draco hold her for a few minutes while staring intently at them. Draco’s plan to get Potter to relax a little hadn't really worked so he'd just sighed and given her back pretty soon. Harry had looked slightly surprised. Draco had wanted to go home.

He lived in a two bedroom apartment in the outskirts of Diagon Alley. He'd gotten the flat just before his father was due back, packed all his things, gone a final lap around the Manor and then never looked back. He didn't really date much, there were never enough time, there was never enough commitment from his side, there was just so many upsides to casually fucking random guys when he felt like it. He didn't feel like it very much though. Not because he didn't get the urges but because there was just so much casual sex you could have before you accidentally fucked the same guy twice or hit on a straight dude with a little too fragile ego and macho complex.

 _I can take her_. It'd been that easy to slip the words out. The whole department had moved their gazes from the baby to the blonde man in the back of the room. No one had said a word. He could do it. Really could take her, he had had a job that paid well, he had an apartment with an extra room, he had had a clean record for over ten years. There was no hitch. Which the Head of the Department also thought since she only called out ‘Splendid!’ and gotten the papers ready. She was one of the few that actually liked Draco. He'd gotten dirty looks when he'd gone up to her desk, like even the people he worked with wasn't sure they could trust him with such a precious little thing. If nothing else, he would take care of the child just to prove them wrong, just to spite them. That he was going to come to love her and think of her as his own child, was nothing he'd excepted. They'd signed papers immediately and when the Department Head had asked for the child's name, Draco didn't know it.

“Well, come up with one then! Go on!” He thought feverishly for a second, thinking that she needed a name of a star or a constellation.

“Neptune,” he'd said and totally forgotten that that was a bloody _planet_ and it had haunted him since.

“Neptune it is!” The woman had said before Draco could change his mind. The name did fit her though, with eyes like that. He'd picked her up again and held her close to his heart. She breathed heavily and snorted a few times. He made a point not to look around the room when he left.

“Hi, there,” he said softly. “Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, Neptune.”

Harry had probably had an outrageous outburst and panicked four times before he barged into Draco’s apartment. At least that was what his hair looked like. His face was wild and he screamed for Draco to immediately show himself. Draco went out from the guestroom with Neptune in his arms, wagging her back and forth, shushing her and giving Potter an aggregated look.

“What is it, Potter? Could you _not_ scream?” He asked in a low, angry voice. Harry had looked so dumb then. Like he'd honestly expected Draco to have kicked around the child like a Quaffle or tried to force feed her poison or something. A decade of repenting for his teenage sins had done nothing for Draco, at least not in Harry’s eyes. The dark haired man had said nothing.

“You didn't tell me her name so I named her Neptune,” Draco said and Neptune grabbed his index finger. “To keep the family tradition.”

“She's not yours. And Neptune's not even a star.” Draco looked up under hooded eyes.

“Legally, she is mine, Potter. And Narcissa is a flower so not every name is really _spot on_ regarding the constellations.”

“It was Nelly.”

“I'll make sure to put it in as her middle name,” Draco said and turned around.

He took some weeks off. He had enough money to do so and he didn't want to let Neptune out of his sight, not when he had gotten permission to have her. He honestly needed the office hours to sleep too. For being so small, Neptune could scream like nothing Draco had ever heard. Okay, Mandrakes might have out screamed her but only by a fraction. He found out after a couple of weeks that she liked being outside. He'd run out of formula without noticing and had hurriedly sprung to see if any shops were still open, baby by his chest. She'd quiet down when they'd gone out the door and hadn't said a peep till they were inside again. He'd gone up to the roof with her later on, sat on the cold tiles and recited the stars. She'd been quiet but awake, like she listened to his explanations of the universe. It was still one of his fondest memories and he kept going up there with her every once in a while to show her the stars and repeat their names. He wished for him not to have to go back to work when he saw a falling star.

Of course, Draco did love his work. It wasn’t at all because he hated it that he didn’t want to go back, it was because everyone there _hated him_. There were very few people who’d liked it when he first applied for a job at the Ministry and even less people had actually liked the fact that he wanted to work in the Muggle-department. He’d heard whispers that he only did it so that everyone would believe he was turning “to the good side”. He’d been twenty-two when he first started and he’d been surprised when he’d actually gotten the job. The Head of the Department had taken to him though, and she was probably the reason why Draco had both gotten the offer and actually stayed for longer than a few weeks. She always gave him uplifting smiles and sat next to him at lunch. It was probably the closest thing Draco had to a friendship.

When Neptune couldn't sleep Draco told her stories. There were stories from the Tales of the Beedle the Bard, some from his own childhood that his mother had told him and then there was the real ones. She usually liked those best. When there was magic and witches and wizards and flying cars and portraits of people that moved. When she somehow could hear in his voice that there was _something_ different with these stories. He'd decided to follow code and take the ten-year-resolution. It was a thing that one usually did towards a partner, a Muggle partner, where you pledged to tell them about the wizarding world if you were with them for over ten years. It'd been sort of a customary since the Second Wizarding War and if Neptune would turn out to have magical force within her, she'd have a whole year to grow accustomed to the fact that all of her Dad’s stories had been true before having to leave for school. The thought about her going away made Draco want to puke so he decided that there was a long time till she would turn ten and then generally don't think about the future at all. (He'd also told himself that he'd tell her sooner if she showed any signs of using magic. She hadn't. At least not yet.)

He hadn't thought about keeping the magical world a secret to the baby before Narcissa had asked about it. _She is from a Muggle family after all_ , she'd said and looked at Neptune's puffy cheeks with a tint of disgust. Draco had held the girl to his chest and stared at his mother. There were nothing in this world he wanted to protect more than this little girl and he would bloody well not let his own family do anything to make her life worse than it already was.

“Don't you dare look at her that way,” he'd spat. Narcissa had looked back in shock. He'd wondered whether he hadn't turned out to be the child she’d thought he’d be. He'd turned out gay, he'd turned out with a Muggle child, a single parent even and he'd turned out to be working with Muggle affairs in the Ministry. But he didn't care what she thought, not if that meant she saw him as unequal. She'd shook her head, maybe disappointed, and left without another word. It would take her two years to warm up to the idea of Draco and Neptune.

When it was time for him to go back to the office, he was so scared he couldn't sleep. He had hired a nanny, a girl that had been at Hogwarts the same time as him but he'd never been interested in getting to know. She was a Hufflepuff and a year younger so he wasn't even surprised that he had no idea who she was. Potter had given him an approving look when he'd started asking about it and it made Draco feel comfortable. Was someone good enough for Potter, it was probably gonna be an okay person. And the fact that she wanted to work for _Draco_ was just outstanding since pretty much no one wanted to do that.

Potter hadn't left him alone from day one. He would show up at Draco’s house to check in and when Draco got back to work, Harry always had so many papers that he needed to dump at Draco’s desk and ‘casually’ ask how Neptune was doing.

“Same as yesterday, Potter, you saw her, she's fine.” Draco was trying to figure out a way to take some minor control over the situation. He figured if Harry would keep coming, Draco might as well give him _permission_ to do so. It would at least give him some fake feeling that it was somehow his idea. So Draco gave Potter a key and an open invite. He could go see Neptune whenever he liked, but if he touched any of Draco’s stuff there would be consequences. Harry had accepted the key with a confused look but had propped it in his pocket anyway and actually said thanks.

Harry had used the invite way more often than necessary. He'd stop by after work, which he always went from too late in the afternoon because he apparently had no life, sometimes in the mornings before work and sometimes he stayed all evening. He was there maybe five days a week. At least, and at least eight times during those days. At first Draco was so damn pissed because he could handle this, Potter didn't need to come see if he did the job good enough every single second. It wasn't until Neptune called Harry “Daddy” the first time that he realised that Potter wasn’t there because of Draco. He was there because of Draco’s daughter. Because of _Harry’s_ daughter. Because the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Even though him and The Boy Who Lived having a daughter together wasn't exactly something that made sense and neither was it something that Draco had had any sort of say in.

Draco had always been Dad. Well, mostly Dadda in the first years but he always felt flushed when she called him that, like it was embarrassing for reasons he didn't quite understand himself. The little girl had learned pretty quickly that Dad and Daddy were two different people and that she wanted them both to pay attention to her. If Harry wouldn’t show up one evening, she’d ask for him and her nanny told Draco that she usually called for ‘Dadda’ when she accidentally bumped into something and started crying. It made Draco hug her a little tighter that evening and he didn’t even care when she grabbed his hair and yanked.

The day Potter had started talking about going to Asia with Lovegood for a few months, Draco had said no, very definitely. Potter had stared at him and asked what he was on about, he surely could go if he wanted to.

“No,” Draco said, “you can’t leave.”

“Draco, it's not like it's your place to tell me what I can and cannot do.” It struck him how close they must have grown these last two years because Harry had never called him Draco before. And now he'd just done it very casually in and argument like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“We have a child together, Potter,” he said and regretted it directly afterwards. It was true, he'd know it for well over a year that Neptune was as much Harry’s as she was Draco’s, but he hadn’t really wanted to say it out loud. It made it so definite.

“We don't… I don't... “ Potter said but Draco only gave him the “are you kidding me right now”- eyebrows and he shut up.

“Not that I really like to admit it, but you're one of her two dads. It's real. It's real enough that we might as well could draw up the paper work and you could start pay me child support.” Draco snorted at his own suggestion. _Child support._

“But we're not even a couple,” Harry said faintly.

“Like that matters? You're here all the time and you take care of her and you love her just as mush as I do. You nestled your way into the position yourself, don’t blame me. We don't really need to screw for you to be her dad, that's really kind of hetero normative of you.”

“You want me to be her dad?” Harry asked, sounding hopeful now.

“You already are,” Draco only answered. “And you can't leave the county to go on some soul searching mission because of it.”

Harry had stayed a few nights after that. Sleeping on the couch, Draco had watched him snore softly after he'd gotten up to check on Neptune. He stood leaning against the door frame to her room and looked at the man splayed out on his cushions. He wasn’t going to India anymore. Draco felt pleased. It was that moment he'd realised that he was used to Potter being around. It'd been over two years since he adopted his daughter and it had been two years with a heavy amount of Potter in them. He'd now called Draco by his first name. They had a daughter together. Draco went to bed before he had a panic attack.

“Your Dad and Daddy went to school together, did you know?”

“You've said that a million times Dad!” He might have. He liked to tell stories from school, even though he had to alter most of them because at times they were a bit to gruesome for a three-year-old.

“Yeah, okay, but did you know that we used to hate each other?” He usually told the stories as if him and Harry had known each other back then, but he reckoned that sometimes he had to reveal to her how things really had been.

“Whaaaat?” Neptune asked, eyes growing large.

“We used to really hate each other, I promise, he thought I was… a mean boy and I thought he was… very… irritating.”

“But you love each other now, right?” The question took Draco by surprise and he wanted to deny it but when he saw the determination in her eyes, he knew she would never let the subject go until he gave her a positive response.

“Yes, yes, of course we do, sweetie.” He's heart clenched. It was far from the truth but Neptune seemed to like the answer so he just smiled as genuine as he could and made her lay down.

“Going to bed, are we, cutie?” Harry asked suddenly from the door. Neptune waved towards him, yawned and nodded.

“Well, Daddy will see you tomorrow then.”

“‘Night Daddy. ‘Night Dad. I love you too.” Draco kissed her forehead and cupped her cheek for a moment before exiting the room with Potter in toe.

“She's getting big,” Harry said, almost teary eyed. Draco nodded. Wondered if Potter had heard any of the conversation. Hoped he hadn’t.

“I'll see you tomorrow, Potter,” he said blandly and started walking toward his bedroom. Potter cleared his throat.

“I was thinking about getting some tea…” he said tentative.

“There's a kettle on the counter, you can make yourself some,” Draco said over his shoulder, flailing a hand towards the kitchen.

“I meant together.” Draco stopped walking. It felt oddly like an invite to a date in his own home. He dismissed the idea on the spot and shook his head slightly without turning towards the other man.

“I think I'll just go to bed. You can stay if you like.” The _okay_ he got in response sounded maybe a little disappointed.

His little girl had woken up by night terrors the first time a couple of moths after she’d turned three. She’d come into Draco’s room, sniffing and clutching her stuffed otter. Draco had woken up when she’d whispered _Dadda?_ by his ear and he’d let her crawl into bed with him. She’d told him that there were scary monsters outside her window and she didn’t want them to look at her when she slept. He’d told her that the monster’s couldn’t get to her, but she could sleep in his bed if it would make her more comfortable. She’d stayed. He hadn’t been wearing a shirt so the dark mark shone black on his pale skin and she’d touched it curiously. The monsters seemingly forgotten quite quickly.

“What is it, Dadda? It can move!” When she touched the edges of the scull, the snake did move. Not so much as it used to, not enough for him to be scared that it would somehow be activated.

“It’s a… bad mark,” he’d said, he had thought he wouldn’t have had to have this conversation for years and was very unprepared for it. “It’s something that Dad got when he was really young and the world was a much darker place.”

“Why did you get it? Do you like it? I think it looks funny.”

“No, I don’t really like it. And I got it so that I would know who my friends were, and they would know I was their friend, because we all got matching ones” he said, choking on the words.

“Are they still your friends?” She asked. He shook his head.

“They never were. They were bad people and I had to grow up to understand that.”

“Did they hurt you?” She looked sad.

“You could say that,” Draco said. Neptune put both her hands over the mark.

“Why don’t you take it off?”

“It’s not possible. But it’s a good reminder. That things were bad once and now I can look at it and understand that it’s really good right now. With you, because you’re my friend now and we don’t need to have any marks for that to be true, now do we?”

“No, we don’t.” She studied the mark for some time more, poking her finger on the snake’s tail and then she looked up.

“I won’t let anything hurt you ever again, Dadda,” she said and hugged him tight. Draco might have cried more that night than he’d done in years, but at least Neptune slept quietly and comfortable in his arms.

“What? Potter has a _key_ to the apartment? I _told_ you they are an item, they've been this whole time.” He'd frozen outside of the room with all the filing cabinets when he'd heard Potter’s name in a conversation. That it also was about him made him continue listening in.

“No way, Darshky, Potter isn't gay!”

“What do you know about it? Have he told you?”

“No,” the second man said and sounded rather defeated. Draco had no idea who they were, he hadn't recognised the name or their voices.

“Then he could be just as queer as _Malfoy_. Or, you know, bisexual or whatever it's called.” The way he'd said his name had made Draco stand a little more straight. It was insulting really, to have his name thrown out like some sort of curse word and how much he was affected by it.

“You really think The Boy Who Lived is shacking up with _him_?”

“Positive, but I think it's quite disgusting if Harry’s shagging _that_ -” Draco stepped around the corner and the man shut up. Both men shut up actually and didn't say a single word while Draco was there.

“Quite a lovely afternoon, don't you think?” He asked lazily. They only nodded and continued staring at him as he rustled papers and looked for the files he needed.

“I thought I'd take my daughter to the park after work, do any of you have kids?” The men shook their heads.

“Very well,” Draco said and straighten up, “it's been a lovely chat,” he finished in a bored voice and went to leave.

“And…” he said, stopping in the door and turned his head around to face them,”whether or not, how or why me and Potter are shagging, isn't really _your_ thing to discuss, especially not at work, now is it?” He gave them a hard smile - which they visibly gulped at - and left.

It wasn't like Draco would've said no if Potter had offered sex. Potter had grown up tall and muscular and even though his hair was uncontrollable and fluffy there was something about it that was rather appealing. Malfoy always had had a sweet spot for dark skinned boys, too. But that card was never put on the table and Draco didn't think it ever would either. Potter had never indicated he was hanging around because of Draco and even if he'd never talked about a girlfriend or dating, he seemed to be quite content with his arrangements.

And Draco was too, to be honest. He liked coming home from work, seeing his daughter play with her sitter and then make her food. He liked spending time with her and making her laugh. He enjoyed his relationship with his mother, they’d grown back into liking and trusting each other pretty much like they’d done when Draco was small. He liked having Potter around, how much it pained him to admit. There weren’t many friends in his life and none that he actually visited or visited him but it was fine, he had Neptune. Yes, and Potter. Draco was content. He was happy.

Which is why everything went to shit.

Blaise had reached out, wanted to meet. Draco had said _yes_ because this was the man who'd been his best friend for years. He wanted to see what had happened to him (and if they would squeeze in a casual hook up in the mix, it wasn't really Draco’s place to turn that down).

They’d met up in a crowded pub in Diagon Ally. Draco had been nervous and thought that he was just being ridiculous, this was _Blaise_ after all, not some damn celebrity or anything. Blaise had greeted him with a smug smile and a tight hug. He’d said that Draco was looking hella fine and Draco had rolled his eyes. Blaise had actually asked him about his life for a an hour before he began flirting though, and that would count for something. He'd started to whisper dirty things in Draco’s ear. Things that no one had openly wanted to do to Draco for years and Draco knew that Blaise would definitely not hold back or deny him any of the things he said he wanted to do. The only problem was that they didn't get that far. Zabini had never been a Death Eater. Jesus, no. But it seemed not to matter, he'd been a Slytherin in 1997 and that was enough most days, like that day. Because all of a sudden there was a woman shouting, that two followers of the Dark Arts were in the pub, whispering and plotting. It wasn't worth fighting it, but Draco did nonetheless. When he turned around and stood up, the women squealed and threw a spell towards him. It landed in the bottles behind the bar and made a ruckus. The whole pub was quiet for two seconds before the woman raised her wand again, and curses started flying towards him. He got his wand out and blocked as many as he could, but something hit Blaise square in the chest anyway. The people around him had started shouting and the woman didn’t seem to calm down even though a couple tried to ask her to not cast any more spells.

“HE'S TRYING TO KILL ME!” She screamed as Draco only did counter spells towards enchantments she sent his way. It was the drop for him. He looked to see Blaise on the floor, saw that he was breathing, and Draco made a decision. He apparated from the scene without saying another word. He landed in his kitchen, panting and wand still raised in defense.

“Malfoy, is that you? Are you home alr-” Potter entered the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Draco. Wand was raised towards him, so Draco quickly lowered it and put it into his pocket. He felt out of breath and defeated. He couldn't even have an intimate conversation with an old friend, over twelve years after he'd turned his life around. He felt like giving up. When Draco started crying, Harry took a step forward.

“Leave,” Draco pleaded. There was just so much he could take for one night, he'd reached the limit of his humiliation and he wasn't very keen on having Potter put salt in his wounds. Potter only shook his head and took another step forward.

“Malfoy,” he said cautiously, “what happened?” His voice didn't sound concerned, at least not towards _Draco_. It was a _what did you do_ instead of a _what happened to you_. Draco was already crying so what else could he do to embarrass himself?

“Screw you, Potter,” Draco spat and threw his robes off. “Screw you for being just like everyone else, screw you for thinking that I've done something when I show up in my own home looking like I just stepped out of battle, screw you for not trusting me with my own daughter, screw you for not trusting me period, screw you for never leaving me the fuck alone and screw you for thinking that _once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater_. Go fuck yourself.” He'd gone up awfully close to Potter’s face and he decided that it would be best to step away instantly. When he did, Potter reached out and grabbed his arm.

“What. Happened?” He asked once more and Draco wanted to spit in his face.

“I met up with Blaise and we talked and when he leaned in to tell me how he wanted to fuck me, a crazy ass lady recognized me as “a practices of the Dark Arts” and tried to kill me because she thought we were plotting a killing spree rather then a night of fucking.”

“You were going to sleep with Blasie?” Of course that was the part of the story that Harry took interest in, of course it wasn't the part where someone tried to kill him.

“You're really something, you know that Potter?”

“Were you go-”

“Yes! Yes, Potter, yes. I was going to get laid, because I've had a daughter for more than three years and even though that is probably the single greatest thing in my life, there is not much free time anymore so I haven't been able to find some time for _myself_ lately!” And he thought about that. That sometimes he just wanted things for himself and how he never seemed to be allowed to get those. How he wanted more than just drunken flirting and how he didn’t even get to have that because he’d fought a war when he was a child and had been standing on the wrong side of the lines. He thought about the fact that Potter had actually looked _jealous_ when he’d said he was supposed to have fucked Blaise tonight, on how Potter always was there, in his apartment and how the other man now was staring at him.

“I fucking deserve some nice things,” Draco said and Harry had scoffed, like he actually thought that too. Everything might have ended on a relatively good note if Draco hadn’t kissed him then. Draco might had drunk a pint, or two, but he was conscious enough to know what he was doing, which just made the situation even worse. Harry had pushed him off, almost hard enough that he’d fallen down. He raised himself up, holding on to the counter and refused to look at Potter.

“What the fuck, Malfoy?” Potter asked, emphasising the whole sentence so it dripped of loathing. Draco only stared down the ground and waited for whatever would come next.

“You’re fucking crazy, you’re unbelievable, do you know that? You cannot expect me to want whatever you want, Malfoy. That’s not how the world works.”

“I wasn’-t”

“Shut up! Just, shut up. I can run around and play house with you, because of Neptune but this… I knew you were scum, Malfoy, but this just takes the price.” Then he’d left. Left Draco to stare after him, left Draco half drunk with their three year old daughter when he’d promised he would stay for the night, left Draco in a ball of misery that didn’t want to leave. Because he’d actually thought that Harry had warmed up to him, that Harry had seen that Draco wasn’t just some fuck up that pretended to be nice. He drunk as much water as he could manage but his feet had still felt a bit wobbly when he left the kitchen. He wasn’t sure it was because of alcohol, tiredness or resignation though. He popped his head through Neptune’s door and asked in hushed tones if she was awake. They had been quite loud. There was no answer so he closed the door firmly behind him and slouched down in the couch.

Harry didn’t talk to him after that. He didn’t even come to visit Neptune. The first week, Draco only thought it was because he was mad, that he’d get over it and come see their daugheter again, but when one week turned into two and then all of a sudden it’d been a month and he hadn’t showed up a single night, Draco started to feel angry. He could take it that Potter didn’t want to see _him_ but that didn’t excuse him not seeing his daughter. She was small and didn’t understand why Daddy hadn’t been around for so long. He was tucking her in one night when he realised he couldn’t take it anymore.

“When is Daddy coming home?” She asked, eyes already closed and grabbing at Draco’s sleeve. His stomach knotted.

“Daddy's not coming home tonight, sweetheart,” he said and managed to keep the shakiness out of his voice. _Daddy doesn't come home anymore._ And that was it. No more of this “walking around each other”-business, no more avoiding at work, no more of absent Potter. Draco wouldn’t take it.

“Potter,” Draco said when Harry came towards his desk the following afternoon. At first he thought that maybe the other man had gotten past whatever bull crap he was on, but then he saw the papers in his hand. Potter didn’t answer him and he didn’t look up.

“You have to stop this,” Draco said and got up from his chair.

“I really don’t have time for this, Malfoy,” Potter had said tiredly and like he didn’t really care, put the files down and it had only made Draco even more angry.

“No, Potter, now you listen to me!” He moved around the desk to stand in front of Potter and blocked his path.

“My daughter, your daughter, _our child_ is asking when her Daddy is coming home and everything her Dad can answer is _not tonight sweetheart_ because he doesn't know! Because her Daddy is a coward and a git that should get his head out of his own ass and man the fuck up. I overstepped a line, I know, and I’m sorry for that but I don't care if you hate me or if you never speak to me again, you do not leave her hanging one more night, do you hear me? You do not make me tell our daughter that her Daddy won't be coming anymore. Just because you're afraid I'm going to make a move on you or, I don't know, try and fuck you in your sleep, there is no way you're gonna give up your daughter because of it. Because no such thing will ever happen and I won't allow you to think that it will. It’s been weeks and she's turning four in a less than month, so pull yourself together Potter!”

There hadn’t been a person making a sound. They all had stared at the two man standing in front of Draco’s desk and Draco had managed to only turn a couple of shades bright pink. He’d sounded like a scolding parent, a desperate husband and a crossed lover, all at the same time and he wasn’t very happy that the whole department had heard it, but there was no turning back now. They could gossip all they wanted. He had needed to get Potter to understand that this situation really hadn’t so much to do with them, it was about Neptune.

And Potter had understood. He came to visit whenever Draco wouldn't be there. Draco had caught him a couple of times though, but not wanted to barge in, he'd just been standing and listening in the kitchen as the two of them talked and laughed in Neptune's room. He’d held his breath when she’d asked if Harry was coming to her birthday but when Potter had answered that _of course he would, nothing would stop him_ he’d breathed out. He only wished that Potter would keep the promise.

When he did show up, Draco felt like crying. There were more people in the house than there had ever been before, Neptune had made some friends when she started going to the day care a few months ago and she’d promptly invited them all over. Draco had been scared out of his mind that no one should show up, because he was who he was, but there were five kids and seven parents presence, his mother too of course and then Potter had stood in the living room all of a sudden. He grasped Neptune in his arms and swung her around, making her squeal and shout with happiness. He’d propped her up on his waist and she’d introduced him to everyone of her friends, all of which already knew who _Harry Potter_ was.

Draco had told her about the fact that one of her dads were famous for being a hero and that he’d save a lot of people when he was younger. She hadn’t cared in the slightest. She’d said that as long as he was coming to her party, he could be a fugitive for all she cared. Draco had stared at her and wondered both were she’d gotten those ideas from and where she’d learned that word. Maybe kindergarten hadn’t been the best idea. She had asked if Draco also were famous the day after, like she’d thought about it. He answered no. He didn’t want her to know that Dad in fact was pretty well known, and not for the same reasons as Daddy was.

Harry had acted like a step-mother’s dream towards everyone except for Draco. Even Narcissa had been involved in delightful conversations with him and as much as Draco wanted for Potter to start talking to him again, he saw that this could work out fine anyway. At that moment, Draco was standing around with Neptune on his hip and when she called out _want Daddy too_ and reached for Harry, Draco made a move to pass her over. She slammed a fist to Draco’s shoulder when he did so and shouted _nooooo, both!_ And proceeded to grip Harry’s out stretched arm and make him put it around Draco’s shoulders. Draco hadn’t snaked his arm around Potter’s waist like he’d wanted to. Neptune had held both of their necks tight as she made them hug both each other and her and Draco feared that this was going to be one of the last times he’d ever see Potter outside of work. It was a very awkward half a minute before Neptune thought that the hug was done and kissed both Draco and Harry on their cheeks. When Harry removed his arm and Draco adjusted her weight, she crossed her arms and looked expectedly back and forth between them.

“What is it, sweetheart?” Draco asked.

“Your turn,” she said, egging on.

“To… what?” Harry asked.

“Kiss,” she said and raised her eyebrows like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Draco couldn’t help himself, his gaze snapped up to Harry who returned it. They stared for a long time before they both leaned in and kissed Neptune on one cheek each. She prattled happily and told them they were stupid. Draco let her down and she ran away to the rest of the kids again. Harry didn’t move, he stood beside Draco, watching their kid play tag.

Draco gave her a globe for that birthday - four years old already, where did that come from? - because it'd been the only thing she’d wished for. She wanted to see how the whole world looked like when he’d told her it was shaped like a ball and he wasn't one to deny her things. She'd spun it around for hours after her friends had left, looking at all the names and trying to pronounce them even though she couldn't even read the alphabet yet. Draco’s mother had helped her and Neptune had laughed at all the silly names Narcissa called out whenever she pointed somewhere on the surface. He was sure she would like the star map she was going to get for Christmas. Now when she was older, she remembered some of the constellations and names and they went up to the roof pretty regularly. It felt like they really bonded those nights.

Neptune commented that she was glad that Daddy was back but wondered where he’d been.

“Soul-searching,” Draco had answered flatly and when she’d asked what that meant, he’d told her that it was when grown ups needed some time for themselves, to figure things out. _What kind of things?_ She’d asked and he’d huffed a small laugh.

“Feelings,” he said, “how many puppies you can fit in a room, where the stars go in the days. You know, important things.” She’d considered this for a moment and taken it as a very logical response, enough to not ask really anything more on the subject. Draco was glad because he didn’t know what else to tell her. Harry was thankfully back in their lives and he was even visiting when Draco was at home now.

He looked down at Neptune who looked at him, confounded and she asked:

“Dad, where do the stars go in the days?”

“She has magic,” Harry informed Draco one afternoon when Draco came home late from work. Harry had been there before him and that was not really a normality. Draco’s chest filled with bubbles and butterflies and he grabbed Neptune and flung her in the air till she laughed so hard she almost couldn’t breath.

“Let me down, Dadda!” She screamed joyfully and just because she used that name, he did as she asked. He sat her down in his lap as he sat down on the couch and looked at Harry on the floor.

“So what did she do?” He asked and tried to dodge her grabbing hands that was way to close to his hair for his liking. Harry chuckled a little at the sight. He told Draco about a wrestling match they’d had and when it had been over, she’d gotten a glass of juice. Harry pointed towards Neptune.

“What happened next, Nep?”

“I dropped the glass!” She said smiling and showing how she’d done it. Draco raised his eyebrows.

“But what happened to the glass?” Harry asked.

“It bounced right up in my hand again and I drank it all!” Draco hugged her tight and watched Harry through her brown curls. Harry looked away. So he hadn’t really gone back to normal yet, Draco wasn’t sure he ever would. He had decided that it didn’t matter.

“Stay for a cuppa?” Draco asked, a bit desperate, when they’d turned Neptune in for the night. Harry had been preparing to leave already, but changed his mind it seemed. He made Harry tea and the other man sat down in a chair by the kitchen table. He propped one of his legs up on the seat, held his leg with both arms and put his chin on his knee. As Draco placed the cup in front of Harry, he also placed a bunch of papers next to it.

“What is this?” Harry asked and retrieved the paper as Draco sat himself down next to him. Draco took a deep breath.

“Adoption papers.” Harry’s gaze snapped up.

“What?” He breathed.

“I was going to make an announcement. I mean, on her birthday, but it didn’t really seem... appropriate.” Harry stared at the papers for a long time. It made Draco nervous because it made him second guess this decision. Maybe Potter didn’t actually want to be Neptune’s father for real, maybe he didn’t want-

“I thought you were only joking about this. It was so long ago.” Draco looked up.

“Of course, I wasn’t joking, you’re her father. I just wasn’t sure you really wanted to be for real. But I wanted to give you the chance to actually choose. If you promise to never do that stunt again where you don’t visit for weeks.” Harry had stood up. Draco joined him, thinking that he would have to physically hold him there till he calmed down. Instead, Harry physically held him. Wrapped his arms around Draco’s body and pressed him close to his own.

“Harry…?” Draco said and it made Harry hug him even harder.

“It’s okay,” he answered and Draco relaxed. He carefully placed his arms around Potter’s shoulders and allowed himself just this once to not care about what would happen next. He just relished in the fact that Potter was here and hugging him and never wanted the moment to stop.

Of course it did; Harry drank his tea, took the papers and left for the evening.

They made it official a month later. Harry had laughed and said he’d freaked out about seventeen times before everything was in order, because how would he ever be a dad? But then he’d realised that he already was and it hadn’t been such a big deal. Draco had told them in court that sure it was another type of responsibility now, if Draco would ever die, Neptune had to move in with Harry. Harry had looked up at Draco and wondered if Draco was dying.

“Just sign the bloody papers,” he’d said shaking his head. He wasn’t dying, at least not in a literal sense.

But he felt like dying a lot. Not in a literal sense there either, but you know. Because Harry spent so much time with Neptune nowadays, he slept at the flat most days and he had even started to make them all dinner a couple of evenings a week. He was the perfect father. He was the perfect partner except for the fact that he wasn’t at all Draco’s partner. And Draco was so stuck in the mindset that he wanted Harry to be that, he had a hard time coping with the truth. It wasn’t like he had to hold himself back from kissing him or anything like that, it was more of the urge to just grab his hand he had to fight because that one was even worse. He felt like something was missing when he went to bed and Harry didn’t join him, even if that had never actually happened for real. He wanted Harry to cup his chin and kiss his temple and he wanted Harry to want him. It was the most stupid thing he’d ever wanted.

Draco sat on the couch sobbing. It was pathetic and he hated it but he couldn’t make himself stop. His mother had visited that day and told him that she and Harry had met up for tea last week. It’d stunned him and he’d asked why. _Oh, no reason,_ she’d said and Draco had asked her repeatedly until she’d told him. _He just wanted to know if I thought you’d wanted to celebrate Christmas like usual since he’s going to spend it with the Weasley’s_. The Weasley’s. Really, Potter wanted Draco Malfoy to spend Christmas with the Weasley’s? He usually spend it with only Neptune, his mother showing up around noon for a couple of hours before leaving them alone again. It was good enough for him, but maybe it would be nice for Neptune if they had a real Christmas this year. It had dawned on him then, that, no, Harry didn’t want Draco there at all, he just wanted Neptune there. She was his child, for real now. Draco was just appendage.

“Are you crying, Dadda?” Neptune asked, standing right by the couch all of a sudden. He almost jumped out of his skin. Then he cradled her into his lap and looked her in the face. It was of no use to lie. And he didn’t want her to be scared of emotions, to show them, so he just chuckled a little.

“Yeah, sweetie, Dad’s crying.” She cupped his face and dried some of the tears away.

“Can’t Daddy come kiss the pain away?” She asked. “He always does that for me.” The question made Draco cry even harder because yes, of course he wanted Harry to come kiss all his pains away but that was never going to happen. He hugged Neptune and whispered into her hair that Daddy didn’t like to kiss Dadda that way, not at all actually.

“Why not?” Her expression was deeply concerned and confused.

“He doesn’t like me like that, not like you do,” he said. She kissed his cheeks and said that she would kiss all the pain away, at least try to. It helped. They sat in silence for a while, Draco trying not to let the tears keep streaming but it was of no use. Neptune held him tight and whispered nonsensicals. He loved her so much he didn’t know what to do with himself.

“I thought he loved you, like I do,” she said when Draco had stopped crying. _I’m the one who loves him, not the other way around,_ he didn’t explain. _I love him in all the ways and he loves me in none,_ he didn’t say.

“Love can look very differently from person to person,” he managed to press out.

Harry didn't raise the question until the last week before Christmas. When he did, he threw it out in the air like it was the most casual thing in the world but when he waited for an answer, he looked tensed up and anxious.

“I didn't think your family would approve.” Harry smiled fondly at that. Like he still was surprised that the Weasley’s was his family. He hadn't said whether or not the invite would be for only Neptune or if Draco could come too. He wasn't exactly sure which one he'd prefer.

“If my family can't take that I have a child and welcome her into their life, they can go screw themselves.” _Only Neptune then_.

“You can come pick her up around noon. I'll tell mother to come here earlier.“ He would be alone for the first Christmas in four years. It was going to be hell.

“What? No, the invite extends to the both of you,” Harry said like Draco was acting stupid for not understanding that. He really wasn't, Harry was the one being stupid for thinking that Draco could ever fit in with old Gryffindors and Order members. Like they would ever want him to try.

“Yeah, like that is genuine.”

“Draco,” Harry said and it sound both very firm and at the same time so soft.

“What?”

“They're not bad people. They want to meet my daughter and her fathers. Both of them.” Draco might have believed him if Harry hadn't been acting like an arse until they had to make it work because of Neptune, if Harry had trusted him to at least be a decent person. He remembered the time when Hermione had punched him in the face. All the time he'd called her a Mudblood. If he could come up with a few things that easily that would probably make her hate him for the rest of her life, he was sure there weren't going to be many people there that would feel any different.

“Hardly,” he said and put the dishes away.

“Why do you have to make this harder than it is? Can you stop being such a pessimist for just one second? Would you just please come spend Christmas with us?!” Harry sounded angry and Draco just gave up. At least it would be an eventful Christmas and hopefully not as bad as the one he'd spent drinking himself senseless.

“Fine!” He shouted.

“Good!” Harry shouted back.

“Wonderful!” Draco threw his hands up and left the rest of the dinner out on the table. He went to his bedroom, slammed the door on his way in and scrambled down on the bed.

 _Disastrous_.

Things somehow turned out fine. Some of the people present might have been a little stale towards Draco but everyone loved Neptune so he didn't really mind. And some people did actually talk to him aside from Harry. Charlie Weasley for example and a lot of the kids. Hermione and him had a discussion about candy that seemed to end pretty well and him an Ron talked awhile about Quidditch. Fortunately it didn't make Ron angry that Draco didn’t cheer for the Chudley's. It took almost all of Christmas Eve until _something_ actually happened and it all started with a kiss.

“Why are they kissing on the mouth?” Neptune asked, leaning in and she would have looked very much like an adult if her question hadn’t been what it was.

“They’re a couple.” Draco said, watching Ron and Hermione fondle and he wanted to throw up a little. “That’s how grown ups show each other that they’re in love.” She furrowed her brows at them. She was sitting next to Draco and Harry was seated beside him, talking to someone else.

“Why don’t you and Daddy kiss like that?” Draco absolutely didn't want to answer that question.

“Neptune, I’ve told you about this,” Draco tried saying without Potter hearing it. She didn’t seem to care about this attempt as she stood up and went to stand in front of them. Harry moved his attention from Teddy sitting beside him and glanced a little towards Draco before turning his gaze towards their daughter. Draco wished desperately that she wouldn’t make a scene.

“If they’re a couple,” she said pointing behind her, towards Hermione and Ron again, “and you’re a couple,” she pointed towards Draco and Harry and Draco could see the other man tensed up, “then why aren’t you acting the same way?” Harry seemed to be lost for words.

“We’re… Me and Daddy… are not a couple, sweetie,” Draco said strained.

“ **What**?” She asked, eyebrows low over her eyes and if her glare could’ve killed, she would have sent them both six feet under in a heartbeat.

“It’s a bit hard to explain,” Draco continued, trying to avoid the subject completely. Neptune crossed her arms.

“Try me,” she said and Draco just stared at her for a while. Then he stared at Potter. Who just stared at Neptune. Draco proceeded to look around the room and everyone had stopped whatever they were up to, to stare at the three of them. Hermione and Ron looked sort of amused. Ginny looked like she would crack up at any moment, Mrs. Weasley looked like she felt sorry for them, Mr. Weasley looked like he hadn’t a clue what was going on and the rest of everyone mostly looked sort of uncomfortable.

“You see,” Draco said after he’d taken a large breath, “there are some couples, like Ron and Hermione, a boy and a girl, who falls in love.” Neptune nodded.

“There are some girls, that likes other girl, and they can also fall in love.”

“Draco, what are you doing?” Harry whispered.

“I believe I’m telling her I’m gay,” Draco whispered back.

“And then there are some boys, like me, who… likes other boys. And falls in love only with boys.”

“Like Daddy.” Draco blushed, but nodded.

“Ehm, yes, like Daddy.” He tried not to think that that was a love declaration right there.

“But Daddy, you see, is really in that first category I told you about, do you understand?”

“He’s a boy who falls in love with girls?”

“Yes, so that means that he can’t really be in love with me. Because I am a boy. So we can't be together.”

“Oh,” she said and then put on her “hard thinking”-face.

“But why do you have me then? If you’re not a couple? Aren’t you supposed to be a couple to have kids?” Draco would not take this one. He would not tell his daughter that she was adopted on Christmas Eve with people he didn’t know standing about. It was bad enough that he’d just explained sexuality, confessed his love for Potter and he had to draw the line somewhere. He looked at Potter, who had stopped staring at Neptune and started staring at Draco.

“You take this one,” Draco said under his breath. Harry just kept staring.

“I’m not straight,” he said after a way too long while.

“‘Kay, that’s my cue,” Ron said and seemingly the whole room thought so since about ten seconds later they were alone, only Neptune standing in front of them still.

“You’re not what now?”

“I’m not straight,” Harry said and turned to Neptune.

“Dad forgot about some people,” he said then, “there are some girls and boys, that likes both girls and boys.” Draco’s stomach turned.

“At the same time?” Neptune asked, looking confused with her head tilted to the side.

“No, one person at a time, but it can be either a boy or a girl. It doesn’t matter.”

“Are you in that category?” Harry nodded.

“Yes, sweetie, I am.”

“So that means you _can_ love Dad.”

“Yes, it does,” he said without missing a beat.

“Do you?” She asked and suddenly her voice was sharp and she peered.

“Yes,” he answered breathlessly, “yes, I do.”

“Then what is the problem?!” She asked and threw her hands out. She shook her head at them and left the room, probably to find some candy.

“You’re...” Draco started but couldn’t manage to finish.

“I am,” Harry said in a gasp as he turned towards Draco again. Draco didn’t know what to do. He’d grown so used to the thought of Harry never wanting him back, never be able to have those feelings towards him and that Draco would never be acting on any of the ones he had and now when there was a possibility that Harry might actually want him... He was not able to do a single thing. He was just super aware about the fact that Harry was seated next to him, that their shoulders were touching and their thighs were touching and that Harry looked at him like he’d never seen him before.

“How long?” Harry asked after a short minute of silence.

“I don’t know,” Draco responded. “Years.”

“That night, when you...” _When I kissed you, Harry? When I asked you to be the father of my child? When I gave you a key to my apartment? When I made you come see your daughter even if it hurt me that you didn’t want to see me? Yes,_ Draco thought.

“Yes,” Draco said.

“I thought, you… I thought I was some sort of back up.” _When I kissed you, then,_ Draco thought.

“He was the back up,” Draco murmured. Because he had been. Draco hadn’t always known that he had fallen for Potter but the more he thought about it, the clearer it was that he’d been in love with him for a very long time.

“You never said anything,” Potter said.

“You never showed an interest,” Draco retorted.

“I practically live at your house.”

“Where your daughter lives.” Harry made a face like Draco had a point.

“What happens now?” Harry asked. Draco didn’t know, he really wasn’t sure what had just happened, he wasn’t sure whether Potter had just told him that he loved him back or if he’d just said that to Neptune, and then gotten Draco to reveal that he was in love with him just for shits and giggles.

“I think there’s dessert.” Draco stood up. Harry joined him and gripped his arms to make him stay put.

“Draco,” Harry said.

“Harry,” Draco said.

“You just told me you’ve been in love with me for years, we can’t just go eat dessert! For Christ sake, Malfoy, I’ve been wanting you to tell me that for probably an equal amount of years, I am not letting you leave this room until-” He cut himself off. Draco stared doe-eyed at him and his mouth slightly agape. Harry moved his hands from Draco’s shoulders and placed them over the back of his neck instead and then Harry was kissing him. And it was heavy and desperate and crushing and unbelievable. It must have ended somehow, because there was people around them again when Draco came back to reality; Harry’s lips weren’t on his any more and Neptune was holding one of his hands while Harry was holding the other. There were people raising their glasses to him when he looked around, as if they all thought _finally_ and Draco wondered how many of them that Harry had told before he’d told Draco. It didn’t really matter because Harry had looked at him again, fondness swelling over and Draco had kissed him on the lips, just once to make sure it was real. Everyone cheered and Draco could feel his ears redden. Neptune looked up at him and muttered _I really don’t understand grown ups_ while Harry blinked a few times and then smiled. Draco felt himself smile back and thought that this was the best Christmas he’d ever had, even if it happened to be located at the Weasley’s.

Harry moved in after the holidays. Nothing really changed with that, he was there all the freaking time anyway. The only real change was made in Draco’s (now their) bedroom. Because all of a sudden, there was a man lying next to Draco when he went to sleep and man still laying there when he woke up in the morning. He’d never had that before. It felt more like home than the apartment itself did and Draco would just lay and look at Potter whenever he woke up first. See the other man’s chest rise and fall with his heavy breaths and the way he looked when he didn’t have his glasses on. How his muscles in his thighs were really quite defined and he’d stare at the shape of his feet or the curve of his back or the way his hair fell over his forehead. Harry would wake up and catch him staring and tell him he was _being creepy again_. Draco would just scoff, Harry would move closer, put an arm around his waist and hide his face in Draco’s neck. And Draco would hold him like he still couldn’t believe that it was really his life now, because he barley dared to think it was.

Harry touched the Dark Mark. The first time, it had scared Draco half to death to even remove his shirt in front of Harry, but Harry had only looked Draco straight in the eye and told him that everything was fine. Draco had closed his eyes and Harry had kissed him. Repeated the words till Draco had looked at him again and then they’d both looked down at the ink. Fingers had traced the black lines and Draco had shuddered.

“We can’t change the past,” Harry had whispered and pressed his forehead to Draco’s, “but we’re not in the past anymore.” Draco had caught his lips in a desperate kiss and then there had been no more waiting, no more stopping, no more hesitation. Neptune had been with Narcissa for the rest of the day and Draco hadn’t wanted to waste another minute not being naked with the man he loved.

Sex was amazing. Sex with someone you loved, was fucking incredible. Harry was nowhere near as experienced as Draco was in bed, but since Draco _was_ experienced, he made up for Harry’s lack of it. He would suck Harry senseless and at the same time he’d tell him what he was doing. Which only made Harry want him to do it more, since he stopped all the freaking time to say something. He’d managed to get Harry to plead for release and slowly built him up again after he’d granted his wishes. When Harry had tried it himself, it hadn’t been the absolute best blow job, technically speaking, but definitely psychologically. Because Harry had just wanted Draco to feel nice and he’d taken some of the pointers Draco had given him and Draco would just stare at his face when he bobbed his head up and down his cock and think that he’d somehow gotten into heaven for a moment. With a hand tangled in Harry’s hair, he’d come undone on Harry’s chest. When Harry had licked Draco’s cock clean, he’d lost his breath. They’d explored every inch of each other for hours after that, touching with fingers, kissing chaste, tasting with sweet tongues and sucking with light lips. Harry had made Draco beg for him to fuck him, Draco had done so gladly. Fewer things seemed to rile up Harry better than the word please. With Harry wrapped tightly around him, Draco had come a second time by Harry’s touch, with Harry buried inside him and it’d been just as sweet as the first. It’d become even better when Harry had come too. They’d curled up in each others arms and hadn’t moved for ages.

Neptune realised that Harry was living with them somewhere around January fourth. They were sitting in the living room and Draco had asked Harry when he needed to leave in the morning, for the first day back at the office.

“Are you sleeping with Dad?” She’d asked Harry and Draco had had to leave the room for a second. He smiled about the fact that he would have quite a lot of ammunition to embarrass her with when she got older. When he re-entered the living room, seating himself beside Harry on the couch and stealing a quick kiss from his mouth, his daughter had placed her hands on her hips. She stared them down and asked if they were a couple yet, because _that_ was something couples did to show that they loved each other. Draco had barley managed to hold from rolling his eyes and Harry had laughed warmly.

“Yes, Nep, we’re a couple now.”

“Was it really so hard?” She asked and demanded that they’d have a group hug again. Draco picked her up and Harry slung an arm around his shoulders. Neptune held their necks and squeezed tight. And Draco snaked his arm around Potter’s waist because he was allowed and Harry just smiled at him from behind their daughters neck.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Might so a podfic.
> 
> Like my stuff? [Buy me a coffee!](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mee4ever)


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